9/11 Terrorist Attacks - Essay Example

Why did the 9/11 attacks come as such a surprise to most Americans Was the Bush administration's response to 9/11 justified "The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise. Islamist extremists had given plenty of warning that they meant to kill Americans indiscriminately and in large numbers."1 However we may choose to view it in retrospective, when they happened the 9/11 attacks were definitely both a surprise and profound shock to most American people. Prior to that fateful day in September of 2001, the American people did not have experience of terrorism from close quarters, except for the Oklahoma incident and relatively minor World Trade Center incident of 1993, and one or two major prevented attacks. Consequently, although it was not necessary for it to be so, there was much complacency and insouciance in the air. Maybe it is human nature, or maybe it is more specific to American culture, but traditionally, America has had a problem "with preparing for new and different threats, a syndrome which usually requires first the suffering of a murderous attack before taking effective action."2 Pearl Harbor was a prime example. September 11 too has many features in common with Pearl Harbor: "The horror and surprise of 9/11 was reminiscent of Pearl Harbor. This time it was not an attack against US forces deployed at the periphery of continental United States, but against significant symbols of U.S. power."3 The impact of 9/11 may in fact have gone much deeper into the American psyche than any thing that happened in the past. It may have forever changed how American people, as opposed to the Government, viewed the issue of national security. "Everyday Americans, especially those who in the past have favored social spending or individual rights over security and defense," began to get seriously concerned about "what the potential magnitude and effects of future attacks might be."4 Ever since, there has been a growing awareness that adequate preventative measures are vital to foil terrorist attacks that identify and exploit vulnerabilities of the American nation. The 9/11 disaster "vaulted preparing for terrorism from an issue with occasional attention but low visibility overall to an issue of national prominence and high priority."5 On 9/11 itself, the nation had a rude awakening from a long but uneasy slumber. In theory, the government as well the people knew about the escalating threat from terrorism, yet in practice, the government utterly failed to thwart a very simple and straightforward terrorist agenda, and the people had not been considerably worried until the images of mammoth imploding twin towers shook the ground beneath everyone's feet. In theory, as the 9/11 commission report put it, by September 2001, "the executive branch of the U.S. government, the Congress, the news media, and the American public had received clear warning that Islamist terrorists meant to kill Americans in high numbers."6 But in reality, the message did not really sink in. As the commission report rightly and frankly acknowledges, the most important failure of American leaders (as well as of the American people) was that they did not realize "the gravity of the situation." It was, above all, "a failure of imagination." The relatively carefree attitude, which was one of the chief reasons for the particular nastiness of the surprise that people experienced in the aftermath of 9/11, was bolstered by a primary psychological outcome of the end of the Cold War era, which was that the people of America became overconfident. During much of the Cold War decades, America and Russia were continuously poised on the brink of the total annihilation. Except for today's teenagers, most Americans had lived through the nightmare of the Cold War - and emerged unscathed. This phenomenon naturally, although unreasonably, engendered a false sense of confidence in the American mind, even if only at a subconscious level. There had not been a single 'hot' incident throughout the entire length of the Cold War period, although even a small incident could have sufficed to bring about the end of the world as we knew it. In the years following the end of the Cold War, the world, and primarily the United States, was still very much in great danger. Nonetheless, the central and long-standing threat had been defeated, and people could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. They longed for peace. "Celebrating the end of the Cold War, people were clamoring for a peace dividend from reduced military expenditures."7 Unfortunately, though, this longing for peace in the hearts of American people developed into complacency of mind about the grave threats looming on the horizon. Somehow, an atmosphere of invulnerability prevailed in the American territory. Most Americans were living inside a cozy cocoon - albeit an imaginary one. Despite mounting concerns of terrorism in the national security circles, especially regarding biological agents, the general public was still basking in post Cold War optimism. If America could beat the Evil Empire, then America could beat anything, be it terrorism of whatever variety. Such had been the irrational exuberance among the general populace in the months and years leading up to September 11. When the attack actually took place, everyone's reaction was naturally one of stunned disbelief: surely, this could not be happening! Not in New York! How, in heavens' name, could such an atrocity happen on the American soil The fact that the targets of the terrorist attacks were World Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbols of American economic and military might - added to the psychological impact of the terror, just as the terrorists had calculated. Soon after the initial dumbfounded surprise, the confusion, and the pain of the tragedy, people started asking questions. The U.S. citizens' sense of safety and security was blown to smithereens instantly. They were shocked, traumatized and enraged - but they needed answers first. The question was simply not who perpetrated this ghastly crime against humanity and how did they go about accomplishing it, but more importantly how they were allowed to do it. Hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars go into maintaining what is by far the world's most advanced defense system every year. Where was this much-vaunted defense network of the American government on September 11 The terrorist plan was not too sophisticated; in fact, it was a crude idea to hijack planes and smash them over skyscrapers. The acute bafflement of the American public was not caused by the ingenuity of terrorists, but by the sheer ineptness of the defense mechanism in place to protect the American people. One of the major questions that particularly piqued many people was: how could a few planes be allowed to drift in American airspace, especially over the economic and political capitals of America How could the hijacked planes be allowed to go where they wanted without being intercepted by fighter jets How could the air defense be totally non-existent And then, there was a deeper question: how did the American intelligence not have a clue about such a massive terrorist operation, which must have been planned for years These are the kinds of questions that hugely amplified the surprise factor and the weirdness of the 9/1l events. The official answers to them, however, turned out to be even more surprising, simply for the reason that there was an excuse and superficial explanation found for almost everything. If the questions caused surprise and widespread consternation in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the answers continue to cause surprise and consternation in many quarters to this day. The way in which scores of factors had to fail in perfect synchrony with one another to let the terrorists have their way seems nothing short of incredible. The 9/11 report conveniently lays the blame on "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" across the government, but does not come out with satisfying answers itself. Many people dismissed the report itself as a failure of investigation. The government's 9/11 Commission, one author felt, "is not a contribution to scholarly debate. It is as much a part of the US government's assault on the world an F-16 bombing Fallujah."8 There are many people, not all of them necessarily being conspiracy theorists, who are convinced that for one reason or other, the government is involved in a cover-up operation: "Hailed as a triumph and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the Kean Commission's report failed to deliver any answers at all on many glaring questions."9 Regarding the failure of air defense, for example, the Report affirms that the "Pentagon behaved faultlessly but was hampered by extraordinary failures of air traffic controllers to pass on information."10 Extraordinary failures, indeed, and extraordinary cover-ups. A scholarly article in a reputed research volume, to speak of one instance, has this statement in its abstract: "Noting government refusal to disclose evidence called for by investigators, we find some pieces altered or fabricated and others confiscated or destroyed." 11 In the end, it remains extremely intriguing that, since September 11, 2001, not just the commission report but "no part of the United States Government has offered a convincing, coherent, or complete explanation of the events of that day." 12 The tragic and shocking episode of 9/11 marked a new beginning for the American government and the American people. Whatever its shortcomings may have been in regard to the 9/11 disaster, the Bush administration became particularly resolute not to let American people experience such a abhorrent surprise again. It got on high alert: " in an effort to mitigate the physical, emotional, and economic impacts that terrrorism has on Americans, government at all levels is sharpening its focus on homeland security."13 The government assumed a militant stance and announced war on terror. The term 'war' represents "a comprehensive effort to mobilize American national power in order to achieve major strategic goals."14 However, over and above the massive retaliatory campaign the government launched, prevention became the top priority. The FBI and the Justice Department, for example, began shifting their focus to the prevention and detection of terrorist attacks. The Bush Administration announced numerous counterterrorism measures. It goes to the credit of the regime that there has not been another 9/11 in over 5 years since. However, an overwhelming number of people are not happy. It is almost universally felt that the domestic security policies of the administration encroach on fundamental freedoms of American citizens. September 11 has "prompted an expansion of law enforcement powers at almost every level." However, "the domain of individual rights has contracted."15 There has to be a balance sought between liberty and security, of course. There is a widespread feeling that the government failed in striking this balance: "Conventional wisdom about "striking a balance" between liberty and security obscures the fact that reponses to 9/11 are deeply flawed from both perspectives."16 Bibliography: Blow, Thomas. The 9-11 Syndrome: Averting Disaster in America's Next Great Challenge. College Station, TX, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc, 2002 David, Charles Philippe Grondin, David. Hegemony Or Empire: The Redefinition of US Power Under George W. Bush. Burlington, VT : Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2006 Kolar, Jay. What We Now Know About The Alleged 9-11 Hijakers. In The Hidden History of 9-11-2001 (Research in Political Economy), ed. P. Zarembka. Oxford : Elsevier, 2006 Morgan, Rowland, Henshall, Ian. 9/11 Revealed: The Unanswered Questions. New York : Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005 9/11 Commission Report, The. Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Executive Summary). http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/22_07_04911execsum.pdf (accessed on 09 March 2007) Pangi, Robyn L., Howitt, Arnold M. Countering Terrorism: Dimensions of Preparedness. Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2003 Schulhofer Stephen J. No Checks, No Balances. In, Civil Liberties Vs. National Security In A Post 9/11 World (Contemporary Issues), ed. M. Katherine B. Darmer, Robert M. Baird, Stuart E. Rosenbaum. Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2004 Tarpley, Webster Griffin. 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. Joshua Tree, CA : Progressive Press, 2006 Zarembka, P.. The Hidden History of 9-11-2001 (Research in Political Economy). 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